The first quarter was another subpar stretch for Oregon startup investing, with less than $14 million invested in the state by venture capitalists, according to new data out Thursday night from the National Venture Capital Association.

On the heels of a weak 2013, the 12-month average of venture investments in Oregon shows the state is at its weakest point for attracting startup funding since a recession-tainted stretch in 2010.

And yet jobs data out this week from the Oregon Employment Department paints a different tale, showing that tech employment is up 3.4 percent from a year ago – the strongest annual growth in nearly two years. (The monthly jobs data paints a limited picture of the state’s tech sector; more complete quarterly data is due shortly.)

There are several factors at work in the apparent contraction. Among them:

• Oregon entrepreneurs are depending less on investment capital to get their startups going. That’s partly due to lower costs as the state shifted from expansive hardware technology toward startups and web development. It may also reflect a more measured approach to growing businesses, relying more on revenue and less on speculative capital.

• With a relatively tiny startup ecosystem, the timing of any one funding round can dramatically affect Oregon’s quarterly statistics. Earlier this week, Act-On Software announced a $42-million venture-capital round. Had that whopping deal been announced a few weeks earlier, Oregon’s first-capital venture tally would have tripled. (Even so, the state's 12-month average would still be at a four-year low.)

Nationally, venture activity is soaring. VCs invested $9.5 billion in the first three months of the year, the strongest quarter since the closing days of the dot-com era, in 2001.